March 29 & 30 - Passover fun!

Village Belle Hotel (photo taken from TripAdvisor)

Today Etienne and I explored more of St. Kilda beach and went to a great bar called Village Belle Hotel. It is the first night Passover seder at Joel’s aunt’s and also good Friday so the holidays are definitely upon us! This is my first time away from home for Seders, even at university every year I would come home to be with family. Although I miss my family at this time, I am also learning about how Jews celebrate this huge holiday down under, which is pretty darn cool! The best part, besides lots of good food and banter, was reading a special haggadah (Jewish text that sets the order of the Passover seder) made with indigenous Australian art. I have seen special haggadot before, for example from the ghettos in Europe, but I never even considered there being specialty ones in Australia. Boy, was I wrong. This was the coolest Haggadah I’ve ever seen - the vibrant colors and passionate paintings of nature scenes and the plagues were unforgettable. I did not take any pictures of it and tried looking the specific one up online but couldn’t find any pictures. The second night seder was at Joel’s house with lots of people, energy, great food and wine. Isn't it remarkable that Jews all over the world are celebrating passover in similar ways, with similar tunes and traditions? I am thrilled to see this time and time again when I am exploring a new place. I am so thankful to Joel and his family for their warm welcome. Because of daylight savings we finished after 2 am! No need to fret though, it was really only 1 am because when the rest of the world jumps forward for daylight savings, Australia jumps backwards. After second night I went out to Pawn & Co, where the music and vibe is always on point. The next day I went to a cute little tavern-like bar with a great whiskey selection called “Less than Zero”. I met an Australian guy named Tom who suggested a book called “freakonomics”, maybe I will find it here because Australia has a bunch of random bookshelves in malls, train stations, etc where you can pick a book off a shelf and then leave a book at another time. If anyone reading this has read that book please message me to let me know if you liked it! After the tavern, I paid the cover charge for circus (another techno club), and really did not like the vibe or the music, which is so sad because it’s such a cool little venue. Apparently there is an upstairs as well but it wasn’t open yet by the time I got there. I met two nice British guys and we hung out instead and grabbed beers and food. Bring on the matzah this week!